10 Wonders of Ukraine

Number 1.  Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra

Lavra means 'monastery' and Pechersk is a name derived from 'pechery' meaning 'caves'. That and more you will find when visiting the most significant sightseeing point in Kiev. It is the oldest Orthodox monastery in Ukraine that attracted thousands of pilgrims and many monks. The buildings were destroyed by fire and later also during the Nazi occupation but it was always reconstructed.

 Number 2.  Kamenets-Podolskiy fortress

Kamenets Podolskiy town was first mentioned in 1062. That time it was a fortress of Kievan Rus. Mongol Tatar forces destroyed Kamenets Podolskiy fortress in 1241. Polish state army captured town in 1352. Kamenets Podolskiy town fortress was expanded and reconstructed to defend Polish state from the southwest. The castle was continually enlarged and in the 17th century it became the strongest in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Various iron cannon balls can be still found in the ruins of the castle as a result of sieges.      

Number 3.  Khotin fortress

Mediaeval citadel, the best preserved of all the fortresses of Moldavian Principality, built at the beginning of the 15'th Century by the Moldavian Prince Alexandru cel Bun (Alexander The Good), with the help of the lithuanian ruler Teodor Vitold, that brought some architects from the baltic area - their influence can be observed in the brick decorations of the citadel. Fortified later by prince Stephen The Great (1457-1504) - which also built an orthodox chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Hotin became the most powerfull Moldavian citadel. 

Occupied by the Ottomans in the 18'th Century, the fortress was enlarged - the exterior walls and bastions were added by the turks. After the annexation of eastern Moldavia in 1812 by the Russian Empire, the citadel was no longer useful and ruined itself partially. Today in restauration.

Number 4. Uman Park "Sofievka"

The park was founded in 1796 by rich Polish magnate Stanislav Pototsky in honor of the wife of a beautiful Greek woman Sofia, and has been presented as a gift for her in May, 1802.

Number 5.  St. Sophia's Cathedral

St. Sophia's Cathedral was constructed in early 11th century and at that time was a mighty impressive complex. Inside you will find amazing mosaics and frescoes, some of which also had to be restored. In one of the altars there is a white sarcophagus with remains of Yaroslav the Wise and his wife Iryna.

Number 6. National reserve Chersonese of Taurida

The Chersonese Historical and Archeological Reserve is one of the most important centers of world culture. 

The 2nd half of the V century BC the colonists-migrants from Heraclea of Pont founded the city of Chersonese. The remains of the city defense walls, houses, public places, basements, wells, and cemetery are within the territory of modern Sevastopol. 

The excavations have been carried out here for 200 years already and annually benefit with ancient works of art, sculpture, parts of architecture, coins, tools, domestic utilities. 

Number 7.  Khortytsia Island

The foundation for Zaporizhian Sich was laid out on Khortytsia in 1552-56 by a Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks Baida-Vyshnevetsky. He built here a castle, from which he set out on campaigns against Turkey. Baida withstood a siege by Crimean Khan Devlet-Gerei (1557), and one year late the ashamed Khan came back with his Turkish allies. Vyshnyvetskyi was forced to leave the island and its fortifications were destroyed. The island where the fortress stood is still called Baida.

Number 8. Livadia Palace

This place not far from Yalta was chosen by Tsar Nicholas ІІ himself who also controlled the construction of his new summer residence. It is very hard to imagine that Imperial architect Mykola Krasnov spent only one-and-a-half years on the design of the splendid White Palace. It is even more difficult to believe that this large building was erected in a mere 17 months. 2500 construction workers laboured even at night, under the light of torches to make the impossible possible. The foundation was laid in April 1910 and the construction was completed in September 1911.

Number 9.  Museum of Pysanka (painted egg)

The Pysanka Museum was built in 2000 in the small city of Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivska Oblast. The central part of the museum is in the shape of a pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg). This is the only museum in the world dedicated to the pysanka, and it has become a calling card of the city. In August 2007 the museum was recognized as a landmark of modern Ukraine.

Number 10.  Ostroh Castle

The Hypatian Codex first mentions Ostroh in 1100, as a fortress of the Volhynian princes. Since the 14th century, it was the seat of the powerful Ostrogski princely family, who developed their town into a great centre of learning and commerce. Upon the family's extinction in the 17th century, Ostroh passed to the princes Lubomirski. In the 16th century, first East Slavic books, notably the Ostrog Bible, were printed there. The town formerly had a sizable Jewish community, whose rabbis included Kalonymus Haberkasten, Samuel Edels, and Solomon Luria.